144 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



WHY SUPERS OUGHT TO BE PUT ON EARLY. 



It might not be out of place here to 

 mention that the last season we had bees 

 in Clinton Co., was one of these swarm- 

 ing seasons, and we took a fairly good 

 crop, and was down there only four times 

 during the season. In this case there 

 were practically no swarms hived; what 

 issued went to the woods. One thing 

 that made this yard swarm more than 

 usual was that our visit to put on upper 

 stories was put off until the honey season 

 was open. This was a bad move; as its 

 bees were packed in their winter quarters 

 all this time. This yard wintered well 

 that season, and had the bees been re- 

 moved from their chaff packing, and 

 upper stories given the 20th of May, 

 they would without doubt have done 

 much better. 



don't keep THE PACKING ON TOO LATE. 



There is an other point, usually over- 

 looked, and that is that a colony of bees 

 that once feels itself just the least bit 

 crowded, so that the bees feel themselves 

 a little uncomfortable, it may be they still 

 have their contracted winter entrance, or, 

 if in winter-packed hives, the cushion is 

 not removed early enough, such a colony 

 is quite likely to get the swarming fever. 

 Let me say right here, before it slips my 

 mind, that the universal practice of leav- 

 ing the cushion on until time to put on the 

 supers, with the idea of keeping the bees 

 warm, so they will breed up better during 

 the spring months, is the proper thing to 

 do in early spring, but just as soon as the 

 danger of freezing nights is past, usually 

 about May 20th, in this northern locality, 

 the packing should be removed from the 

 top of the winter-packed bees, and upper 

 stories given to all the medium and strong 

 colonies. 



How often it happens that our espec- 

 ially strong colonies, those from which we 

 anticipate great results, prove to be only 

 ordinary at extracting time. They were 

 allowed to form the habit of some people 

 1 know of viz., that they can live fairly 

 well without work. At any rate, it would 

 seem so; as they rarely ever do much 



more than half of a season's work in the 

 supers. 



There is much hinging on this word 

 condition. We read much about keeping 

 one's colonies strong, what we want, and 

 must have for best results, is not strong 

 colonies, so much as, colonies that are in 

 the right condition. Such colonies were 

 perhaps only moderately strong during 

 the May breeding saason, but they kept 

 pegging along, and just came to their 

 zenitii as the honey season opened. They 

 had never seen a minute but what they 

 had plenty of room, and for all they knew, 

 they had room enough to last them 

 always. Such colonies are our best sur- 

 plus gatherers; they are our main de- 

 pendence; we bank on them; and one 

 would be fortunate were all his colonies 

 just like this, as to strength. 



THE ADVANTAGE OF GIVING THE QUEEN FULL 

 SWAY EARLY IN THE SEASON. 



Just before the extra strong colony gets 

 in the condition of this ideal colony men- 

 tioned above, give it an upper story, and 

 let the queen have full sway through these 

 two stories. Don't you see that this 

 manipnlation will keep this extra strong 

 colony in about the same condition as the 

 ideal ? The laggards are allowed to come 

 along as best they can; if they get strong 

 enough to store surplus, all right, if not, 

 they gat into good condition to winter, and 

 usually are our best swarms the next 

 season. 



Rather than spend good time, which is 

 money, nursing up or uniting these puny 

 colonies, our practice is, to keep enough 

 colonies in each yard, exclusive of these 

 weaklings, to gather what honey the loca- 

 tion produces; this "kink" is a money 

 saver, as it saves a great lot of spring 

 work that pays but little at the best. 



In my early bee-keeping when working 

 for extracted honey, I had no queen- 

 excluders; the practice was when the 

 honey season opened, to give them their 

 upper stories. Of course, the queen would 

 take possession of this second story fc 

 brood purposes. Then we read that the 

 proper thing to do, was to lift up this 



